Ghana - Customs and duties

Ghana uses the Harmonized Commodity Coding System (HS) to classify goods. The ad valorem tax is assessed with the Customs Valuation Code (CVC) formulated by the World Trade Organization. In 1999, duty on most machinery and capital goods was 0%, the duty for raw materials and intermediate goods 10%, and the duty on most consumer goods 20%. There are import restrictions on cigarettes, narcotics, mercuric medicated soap, toxic waste, contaminated goods, foreign soil, and counterfeit notes and coins of any country. The import license system was abolished in 1989, but a permit is still required for the import of drugs, communications equipment, mercury, gambling machines, handcuffs, arms and ammunition, and live plants and animals. There are no controls on exports.

Ghana is a member of ECOWAS. The country also created free zones in May 1996, one located in the Greater Accra Region and two other sites at Mpintsin and Ashiem. The seaports and airport also qualify as free zones, as do companies that export more than 70% of products. These companies receive a ten-year corporate tax holiday and zero import tax.